Ok, so one of the reasons we came here to Kenya was so that my wife could work as a physician. When she was going through Medical School, Internship, and Residency she made a promise to God that if she fulfilled all her obligations, she would donate some time to the needy. Not only that, but it makes her feel good too.
I am blessed with an incredibly smart and hardworking wife. She completed her residency at Henry Ford Health Systems in Detroit, MI about six years ago. Since that time, she has worked mostly as a hospitalist…meaning you darn sure do not want her to be your doctor. She only treats patients that are really sick and have to be admitted to the hospital, usually managing multiple chronic diseases at a time, like Congestive Heart Failure combined with Kidney Failure. From what I have heard, unsolicited from various physicians, my wife is very good at what she does. It is not just her clinical abilities, but patients tend to really appreciate her personal touch to each patient she works with. Regardless of all of that, she is a very good Internist with excellent training and plenty of valuable experience.
Here in Kenya there is a shortage of doctors. I think it is on the order of one doctor available for every 7000-8000 Kenyans. Compare that to the U.S which has a doctor for every 390 Americans…there is a bit of a delta. Also, there are a lot of folks that cannot even really afford health care. Before there are the comparisons of health care unavailable in the States…do not even start. There is NO comparison. Period. If you think there is, you are full of crap.
With a shortage of doctors, and that number is a little un-transparent if you want to include the term “good” in front of Doctors. The physicians in Kenya, if they were trained in Kenya…are not necessarily top-shelf. Of course, there are surely excellent doctors here! Do not get me wrong and when all you buttholes out there that start writing me messages regarding my misuse of facts that there are excellent doctors here…you are, again, full of crap if you think the training here is the same as in the United States or India or Great Britain…so much so that your eyes are turning brown.
Regarding this shortage; one would think that the government would be willing to do something to overcome a shortage and to bolster what is good for Kenyans. One would think better trained physicians offering their services for free would be a good idea? Nope. The bureaucracy here is as thick as their intellect and the hospital administration just as thick. I think that if you can fog a mirror, assure inconsistency, and speak out of your ass…YOU TOO CAN BE A HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR! We have spent a month making contacts, going to the Medical Board…even carrying letters from various physicians and hospitals trying to get not just a Kenyan Medical License but also a Kenyan Work Permit…NOT TO EARN MONEY BUT TO DONATE TIME! No luck yet. It actually is no different if she wanted to do it right now to make money…i.e. if we were going to stay. To peel through the onion-like layers of the crap is tedious at best. And they wonder why the best talent looks to leave this country, have and always will look for better places to earn a living.
Not really funny, but interesting; the Kenyan government has a track record of making poor decisions allowing their citizens to die in preference to either the members of governments best interest or their stupidity, greed, corruption…God knows what drives them.
There was an article in the Saturday Nation newspaper this week that went into detail about in 1986, folks being rounded up on the street because the government was paranoid that there might be folks either going to protest openly and/or a revolt of sorts…all of it appears to be unfounded in retrospect. No matter, these people were brought in off the street…prominent people in the community and subjected to REAL torture. Not being water boarded or forced to listen to loud music or maybe a room that was uncomfortable. No, they were chained down and had their scrotums burned with cigarettes and needles run through their penises and the tips of their fingers…no food or sunlight for weeks…being held in feces-loaded water; all of this sanctioned by the government that was founded to protect the people.
When the drought started last year the government was swift to move into action! It was determined very early that there would be a food shortage. The staple food here is Maize…most all of the locals eat it with most every meal. It is very simple, 1 cup of maize meal to 2 cups of water (ratio) , boil the water, add the maize slowly and stir until one cannot really stir anymore. Let it set-up like bread and eat it with gravy of vegetables and maybe a small amount of meat. No matter, the maize is the bulk of the meal and vital to the health of the general public. The valiant government stepped up and bought up all the maize…then stored it so that prices would double in time of drought, then they could sell it for a huge profit to their starving constituents.
Granted, all of this sounds very familiar to Obama and his Liberal goon-friends…and I am sure happened under Bush and every other president to some extent. However, it has never happened so outlandishly, so brazen, and so out-in-front of the public. The government is a joke here. The locals all just kind of shrug, laugh it off, and say it is better now than under Moi. Right now, getting pissed on beats getting crapped on I guess?
It is really frustrating dealing with the Kenyan Government, for sure. It is even more frustrating to know what a freaking great country this could be here. There is a HUGE opportunity coming here very shortly regarding communications…the big fiber-optic hub being drug across the Indian Ocean into Kenya. This will give the same capabilities of, say Austin, TX or Tulsa, OK. Kenya can become a powerhouse of communication…Americans like Kenyan English better than East Indian English…if you know what I mean. Regardless, after living here and seeing how the government will line its pockets before doing anything at all to help its constituents…I am sure they can screw this up too. Much like a humanitarian looking to do some good, outsiders will come here to help the Kenyans. Give them a fish, you can feed them a day, teach them to fish they can feed themselves a lifetime. Hard to do when the government steals the fishing poles, boats, lures, hooks, and owns the fish processing plants, the waters, and sells the fishing licenses…
Peace
Dude,
FBO
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